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 Tivoli
Storage Area Networks SAN basic L1 and L2 interview
Storage
question and answers
Manager
11:11 (2013-03-19T11:11:00-07:00) Posted by Anil K Y Ommi 12 (/2013/03/san-storage-
(/search/label/ interview-question-and.html#comment-form) Comments
Tivoli%20Stora
ge%20Manage
r) Storage Area Networks (SAN) has huge requirements and the popularity and
importance of this technology is increasing every year. According to my knowledge
 TSM
EMC and IBM are good among this technology and they recruit lots of junior level
Tutorials
SAN administrators.
(/search/label/
TSM%20Tutori
In this post I have posted some of the basic SAN interview questions collected from
als)
various candidates. This should really help the SAN newbies....The best practise is
 Troublesho always try to research and find out your own answers and not relying on someones
oting answers....
(/search/label/
Troubleshootin SAN Storage Administrator L1 Interview Question and
g) Answers
1. What is a SAN?
 Interviews
(/search/label/I
A SAN is a dedicated network for sharing storage resources. A SAN provides
nterviews) accelerated data access and supports advanced storage management.

 TSM 2. Name 3 Limitations of DAS Technology?

Training No scalability, I/O Bottleneck, Limitations in cable length, Unable to share resource
(/search/label/
3. Name at least 4 of the Hardware component in a SAN?
TSM%20Traini Cable, SAN Switch, GBIC, Storage Subsystem, Host Bus Adapters
ng)
4. How could implementation of a SAN benefit LAN performance?
 AIX
High Speed, Long distance, Data Travel with in the SAN, Fast access Data Backup,
(/search/label/
Improved Performance
AIX)

 Tivoli Data 5. Name 3 key features of Fibre Channel?

Protection High Speed, Long distance, Data Travel with in the SAN, Fast access Data Backup,
(/search/label/ Improved Performance.
Tivoli%20Data
%20Protection Also Read: Storage Area Network (SAN) Basic Free Tutorials
)
(http://www.mycloudwiki.com/storage-basics)

 Video
Tutorials 6. How is a SAN Superior to SCSI?
(/search/label/ SAN offers a number of advantages to parallel SCSI. Fibre Channel is substantially
Video%20Tuto faster than parallel SCSI. In addition, Fibre Channel supports both Fibre Optic and
rials) copper cabling at distances of up to 10 Kilometers. It also connects up to 127 nodes
on an Arbitrated Loop and up to 16 million nodes on a Fibre Channel Switch. With its
 IBM TSM ability to map IP, Fibre Channel is significantly more than a parallel SCSI
FastBack replacement. Fibre Channel’s IP support gives its networked storage devices access
(/search/label/I
to multiple servers or nodes for accelerated data access and enhanced data
BM%20TSM%
management.
20FastBack)

 Storage 7. What is a Point-to-Point Topology?

Area Networks Point-to point topology provides a simple, direct connection between just two nodes.
(/search/label/ This topology is the closest approximation to the traditional SCSI topology and
Storage%20Ar provides a direct connection between two nodes, such as between a file server and a
ea%20Network disk subsystem. With this topology, the transmitter port on one node os connected
s) directly to the receiver port on the other node.

 Certification
8. What is FC-AL?
s
FC-AL is a abbreviation for Fibre Channel – Arbitrated Loop. FC-AL is a industry
(/search/label/
Certifications) standard topology that links up to 126 ports together on a single shared simplex
media. Transmissions can only occur between a single pair of nodes at any given
 Others time. Arbitration is the scheme that determines which node has control of the loop at
(/search/label/ any given moment.
Others)
9. What is Switched or Switched Fabric Topology?
 Tivoli
A Fibre Channel Switch permits multiple simultaneous transmissions between pairs of
Monitoring
nodes connected to it. The data is switched from the source node to the destination
(/search/label/
node.
Tivoli%20Monit
oring)
10. What is the “Fabric” in a Switched Fabric Topology?
 Commvault In the early days of Fibre Channel, the concept of a universal “Fabric” was used to
(/search/label/ support Fibre Channel’s topology independence. With the advent of point-to-point
Commvault) and FC-AL topologies, it’s value has been enhanced.The Fibre Channel Fabric was
designed as a generic interface between each node and the physical layer
interconnection of the nodes. By adhering to this interface, any Fibre Channel node
could communicate over the “Fabric” without having to know the interconnecting
scheme between nodes. A “Fabric” is similar to a telephone switch which allows you
to originate a call to another party without requiring you or the other party to have
detailed information about the interconnection mechanism used to establish the call
between two points.

11. Where does SAN fit into Today’s Networking Environment?

SANs compliment today’s LAN and WAN technologies by acceleration functionality
and performance behind the server, where current LAN and WAN technology leaves
off. They also compliment the ongoing advancements in LAN and WAN technologies
by extending the benefits of improved performance, topological flexibility and remote
management from the client and backbone to servers and storage.

Unlike traditional LAN and WAN technologies, the gigabit speed of a Fibre Channel-
based SAN accelerates I/O performance, relieving the burden from servers in the
tiered client/server architecture. SANs also support advanced storage management
features that include highspeed remote back-up and data mirroring. They also
provide a platform for server clustering to migrate into the open market.

12. What type of san switch you are using?

Brocade, Mc Data, so on

13. What is the command to measure the speed of the port?

#show port 2

14. What you mean by lun masking?

Hiding the luns to specific to host

SAN Storage Administrator L2 interview question and

answers:
1. What is the difference between Raid 1 and Raid 5?
Mirroring and Parity striping across the disks.

2. What is the difference between Lun masking and Zoning?

Lun masking is hiding the LUN to specific server or Host and Zoning is specific to
Operating system for e.g Windows zoning, UNIX zoning only preferred luns can be
assigned to particular Zoning

3. Give examples of few CLI commands of the Storage controller?

Different for Different storage

4. What is the meaning of IOPS? Where it plays important role?

IOPS INPUT OUTPUT PER SECOND One transaction to and fro of the server to
storage. Mission critical applications planning based on IOPS one can determine the
storage,space needs.

Also Read: AIX Basic concepts and commands (/search/label/AIX)

5. Give an example of the Database configurations for Disk layout?
It differ storage to storage expected answer Raid 1+0 configurations

6. Name at least 3 ways consolidating storage improves operational efficiencies. ?

Centralized administration, Scalability, Backup/restore improvement

7. What advantages do LAN-free back up and restore deliver?

Speed up the backup/Restore, Data will not travel over LAN

8. Name at least 3 ways a SAN provides a High Availability Infrastructure.

No single point of failure, BACKUP/Restore speed, Replication/DR will be improved
from Distance point of view

9. What are the steps involved to accomplish Raid best configurations?

Size of the data, no of users, criticality of applications, cost effective of the storage
requirements, Raid 1+0

10. What is the functionality of multi pathing?

Load balancing, fail over on different path, security

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12 Responses to "Storage Area Networks SAN basic L1 and L2 interview

question and answers"

Anonymous
11 November 2014 at 09:06 (/2013/03/san-storage-interview-question-and.html?
showComment=1415725592620#c7959602804353960938)
great post.

Thanks
Sushil

Reply

Unknown (https://www.blogger.com/profile/12624500655726884011)
31 October 2015 at 02:33 (/2013/03/san-storage-interview-question-and.html?
showComment=1446283988070#c6012685638631861169)
Its great to have these type of question along with answers.. Thanks

Reply

Unknown (https://www.blogger.com/profile/12624500655726884011)

Its great to have these type of question along with answers.. Thanks